Collaborative environmental governance and transaction costs in partnerships: evidence from a social network approach to water management in France

Several studies attempt to explain how collaborative environmental governance processes operate, but the question of why collaboration relationships form has received much less attention. Motivated by this need, this paper provides insights to the broad question: why does collaborative river basin management in France depend so heavily on partnerships made up around a few actors? Accordingly, our analytical framework develops a transaction cost explanation for the extent to which participatory procedures help stakeholders to identify partners and initiate collaboration, and for the causal link between the attributes of these stakeholders and their partnerships. The p2 model is implemented to investigate partnership networks of the key actors that govern the management of the Gironde estuary, the study case. The results provide evidence that environmental institutions bring together heterogeneous actors who might not be ready for collaboration, thereby actors’ perceived power similarity; their geographical proximity and co-presence in formal fora limit transaction costs.     

The local governance of climate change: new tools to respond to old limitations in Esmeraldas,Ecuador

This article argues that climate change, seen as a socially constructed anticipation of natural disasters and a future-risk that plays out in present politics, is enabling the emergence of new modes of governance in cities of the global south. The article focuses on the process by which the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, developed a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy. Within the context of climate change adaptation, Esmeraldas mobilised new discourses, stakeholders, and planning mechanisms to address pre-existing urban planning and development limitations. This discursively enabled the municipality's ongoing governance project by leveraging resources, creating consensus, and informing practice. Climate change adaptation thus became an important mechanism for engaging with local priorities, particularly those of the most vulnerable populations, and for bridging the gap between the formal world of policymaking and the reality of life in the city, which is more often structured by informality.     

Do microsporidian parasites affect courtship in two-spotted gobies?

Courtship and body condition of male two-spotted gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens) harbouring naturally acquired microsporidian infections were compared with those of microsporidian-free males under standardized conditions in the lab. Although parasite infection had no apparent effect on individual condition, it significantly affected male courtship intensity. This effect, however, was affected by the intensity of the female courtship. Our study is one of the first to demonstrate a sub-lethal behavioural effect of a microsporidian parasite that could negatively affect the reproductive success of infected individuals. Our results also suggest that secondary sexual traits like courtship may be more sensitive to moderately detrimental effects of parasite infection than classical condition indices.     

The future place of recycling in household waste policy: the case of France

To be rightly implemented, an environmental policy ought to set an institutional framework (goals, rules and instruments) which incents decentralised actors to adopt the appropriate range of technologies. In the household waste management policy, the development of valorisation techniques (and particularly recycling) must be supported by convenient instruments and incentives. The paper analyses the problems encountered with the French household waste policy to ensure the takeoff of recycling techniques. At the moment, a rather under-proportioned institutional setting leads to favour the adoption of incineration with energy recovery at the expenses of recycling. This tends to create a structural bias in favour of incineration.     

Nutrient transfer by runoff from sewage sludge amended soil under simulated rainfall

Wastewater sludges are used in agriculture as soil amendment and fertilizer, with regard to their organic matter and nutrient content. However, availability of nitrogen and phosphorus from sludge-amended soils and their transfer in runoff may lead to eutrophication of downstream surface water. The aim of this study is to establish and compare the effect of two different sludges on these transfers: an anaerobically digested and thermically stabilised sludge (Seine-Aval treatment plant, sludge no. 1), and a limed sludge (Saint-Quentin treatment plant, sludge no. 2). Experiments were performed on 12 sloping micro-plots (1 m × 1 m) submitted to sludge spreading and controlled rainfall simulation. Runoff water was sampled and analysed for concentrations in nitrogen species and phosphorus. Results show that spreading of sludge no. 1 increased both ammonium nitrogen (mean of 1.1 mg L^–1 N-NH₄ vs. 0.2 mg L^–1 N-NH₄ for control micro-plots) and particulate phosphorus concentrations (mean of 2 mg L^–1 P vs. 1.1 mg L^–1 P for control micro-plots) in runoff water. On the other hand, sludge no. 2 did not induce any significant effect on nutrient concentrations in runoff. These results are related to chemical composition and physical treatment of sludges. This study underlines the existence of a short-term risk of nutrient mobilisation by runoff after sludge spreading on soil, and the need to check precisely the impact of this practice on water quality.     

The Effect of Heat on the Physicochemical Properties of Bacteriophage MS2

The differences in physicochemical characteristics between infectious and non-infectious viral particles are poorly known. Even for heat, which is known as one of the most efficient treatments to inactivate enteric viruses, the global inactivation mechanisms have not been described yet. Such knowledge would help distinguish between both types of particles and therefore clarify the interpretation of the presence of viral genomes in food after heat treatment. In this study, we examined in particular the differences in electrostatic charge and hydrophobicity between the two particle types. MS2 phage, a common surrogate for enteric viruses, was used as a model virus. The heat-induced inactivation process of the infectious phages caused hydrophobic domains to be transiently exposed and their charge to become less negative. The particles also became progressively permeable to small molecules such as SYPRO Orange dye. The presence of non-infectious phage particles in which the genome was not accessible to RNases has been clearly demonstrated. These observations were done for MS2 phages exposed to a temperature of 60 °C. When exposed to a temperature higher than their critical temperature (72 °C), the particles were disrupted and the genome became available for RNases. At lower temperatures, 60 °C in this study, the transient expression of hydrophobic domains of remaining infectious phages appeared as an interesting parameter for improving their specific detection.     

Relation of growth and condition with the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan</Emphasis> I locus in Atlantic cod (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus morhua</Emphasis> L.) around Iceland

Growth and condition (both somatic and hepatosomatic index) of Atlantic cod spawning at different locations around Iceland was studied in relation to the Pan I locus. South of Iceland cod carrying the Pan I^AB and Pan I^BB genotypes were more frequent while cod carrying the Pan I^AA genotype was more frequent north of Iceland. Differences in growth were detected between cod spawning at different areas around Iceland. Cod spawning south of Iceland grew faster than cod spawning north of Iceland. Differences in growth rate were also observed among cod carrying different Pan I genotypes within a spawning area. The least frequent Pan I genotype expressed the highest growth in both south and north of Iceland. Cod carrying the Pan I^AA grew fastest at spawning locations south of Iceland, while cod carrying the Pan I^BB genotype grew fastest in north of Iceland. A consistent relationship between condition and the different Pan I genotypes was also observed in all the areas. Cod carrying the Pan I^AA expressed the highest somatic condition and the lowest hepatosomatic index. Together, these results indicate that the relation of growth and condition with the Pan I locus is more complicated than earlier thought and is likely to be influenced by other factors, like size-selective fishing and food supply.     

Fighting behaviour as a correlate of male mating success in black grouse Tetrao tetrix

Fighting is a fundamental determinant of male fitness in species where females prefer socially dominant males as mates or where dominants can prevent subordinates from mating. This in turn can lead to the evolution of honest inter- and intra-sexual cues of male dominance. Fighting as a behaviour comprises both fighting rate (number of fights per unit of time) and fighting performance (success in winning fights), but it is not always clear which of these components are important for female choice and how they link to signals of male quality. To quantify the relative importance of fighting as a cue for females, we recorded detailed behavioural data from male black grouse Tetrao tetrix at leks. We explored the relationship between phenotypic traits (body mass, eye comb size, tail (lyre) length and blue chroma colouration) and fighting performance and rates and how these were related to male mating success. In older males' pairwise fights, winners had lower blue chroma than losers, but there were no differences in other morphological traits. In yearlings, no morphological trait predicted success in pairwise contests. Both fighting rate and performance were positively related to the number of copulations acquired by a male; however, when controlled for lek centrality, fighting performance and not fighting rate was significantly related to mating success. Our results indicate that females may be using components of fighting behaviour as cues for mate choice.     

A new probability model with application to heavy-tailed hydrological data

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - Because of the dramatic changes that are being observed in the climatic conditions of the world, such as excess of rains, drought and huge floods, we...     

Oxygen isotope fractionation between bird bone phosphate and drinking water

Oxygen isotope compositions of bone phosphate (δ¹⁸O_p) were measured in broiler chickens reared in 21 farms worldwide characterized by contrasted latitudes and local climates. These sedentary birds were raised during an approximately 3 to 4-month period, and local precipitation was the ultimate source of their drinking water. This sampling strategy allowed the relationship to be determined between the bone phosphate δ¹⁸O_p values (from 9.8 to 22.5‰ V-SMOW) and the local rainfall δ¹⁸O_w values estimated from nearby IAEA/WMO stations (from ?16.0 to ?1.0‰ V-SMOW). Linear least square fitting of data provided the following isotopic fractionation equation: δ¹⁸O_w = 1.119 (±0.040) δ¹⁸O_p ? 24.222 (±0.644); R ² = 0.98. The δ¹⁸O_p–δ¹⁸O_w couples of five extant mallard ducks, a common buzzard, a European herring gull, a common ostrich, and a greater rhea fall within the predicted range of the equation, indicating that the relationship established for extant chickens can also be applied to birds of various ecologies and body masses. Applied to published oxygen isotope compositions of Miocene and Pliocene penguins from Peru, this new equation computes estimates of local seawater similar to those previously calculated. Applied to the basal bird Confuciusornis from the Early Cretaceous of Northeastern China, our equation gives a slightly higher δ¹⁸O_w value compared to the previously estimated one, possibly as a result of lower body temperature. These data indicate that caution should be exercised when the relationship estimated for modern birds is applied to their basal counterparts that likely had a metabolism intermediate between that of their theropod dinosaur ancestors and that of advanced ornithurines.